By Patric Hedlund, TME

Ten thousand miles may be a long road to travel to get to Washington D.C. from Bellingham, Washington, but Douglas and Jewell James of the Lummi (pronounced Luuh-mee) Tribe came to visit Frazier Park last weekend to explain their generous mission.

During the worldwide covid-19 quarantine time-out, the James brothers carved a 25-foot totem pole to tell the story of urgent concerns for…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Siamèlwit shows the women’s hands in red and a crumpled woman’s body to symbolize murdered and missing Native women who must not be forgotten.

A Tataviam and Lummi prayer to the ancestors June 12 faces all four directions, with clapper stick rhythm and song at Hacienda Saucedo (once Tait Ranch) in Frazier Park.

The Lummi totem pole, the James brothers said, is a ‘25-foot story pole,’ telling about issues of our times—such as the horror at seeing thousands of children taken from their families and locked in cages at the U.S. border. They seek national dialogue about issues. Most totem poles tell of the history of the clan. The James brothers’ team is carving a history of our times.

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This is part of the June 18, 2021 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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